Articles for October, 2009
Rick Perry Aides Pressured Head of Forensic Commission
Out of Chicago comes news that top Rick Perry aides pressured the head of the forensics commission before he was removed. Not that I want to keep hammering the way Perry handled this. Not at all.
Scenes From the New Office (One in a Series)
I was thrilled about the views from the 21st floor of our new building downtown. Outside my window, I can see the main stage for today’s festivities at the Performing Arts Center. The modern Wyly Borg Cube is a beautiful modern juxtaposition against the Gothic Cathedral. But screw all that. The best view in the office is straight ahead, right o’er the top of my computer. There, rising over my cubicle divider like two suns on the horizon of some impossibly breathtaking alien landscape are the faces of Laura Kostelny (left) and Peggy Levinson (not left). The new office rocks. I am blessed.
Leading Off (10/12/09)
1. Oprah Winfrey sampled the goods at the Texas State Fair yesterday–a day earlier than she was expected. If you like your corny dogs with a side of positive thinking and a dab of The Secret, you’re in luck! She’s taping her program at the Fair today. Sadly, I’m allergic to all that–positive thinking, Oprah, the Fair–so, I won’t see you there.
2. Surprise! Re-developing downtown is proving to be more expensive than the City Council had originally planned. Back in 2005, the city awarded the Mercantile, Atmos Energy Complex, and Continental projects to Cleveland-based developer Forest City, along with millions in tax subsidies. Mercantile is complete–and 80 percent leased–but the other stuff is going to take more time and money. A lot more money.
3. Maybe we should consider asking Oprah for a loan–whisper sweet nothings about the Continental while she munches on a fried Oreo.If that proves too embarrassing, we can cut silly things from the budget like sustainability, clean water, and conservation initiatives. It’s working for Plano and cities like Miami and Columbus! Everyone knows water is overrated. Long live fried Coke!
TEDxSMU A Resounding Success
On Saturday, about 400 people gathered at the Owens Art Center for TEDxSMU, an independent TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference. I had heard of TED, seen some videos of talks given at TED conferences, and been told that it is an amazing experience. It is.
The question speakers were given to answer was, “What will change everything?” The answers — given in 18-minute-segments — were so engaging, so practical, and so surprising that I am still trying to absorb them. I’m assuming that videos will be posted on the TED site soon, and when they are I’ll alert you.
Pulling this off could not have been an easy task, but it was very smart of SMU to do it. Because many of the speakers and performers were SMU faculty and students, the event was a brilliant introduction to some of the school’s most impressive talent. When Gerald Turner arrived as SMU’s new president 15 years ago, the school was a little island of mediocrity that few people in Dallas had any connection with. Saturday was a kind of coming-out party for the university SMU has become: an intellectual force radiating energy to the entire city. I have to admit, I was a sceptic. But now I’m a believer. The ideas flowing out of that place are simply astonishing.
How good was it? I sat there transfixed — without even thinking of breaking for my car — for eight hours.
Alleged Park Cities Prostitute Arrested Again
This morning University Park Police took Cynthia Martinez into custody for a second time, for working as a masseuse without a license. That’s the type of business she claimed to have been operating when she was arrested last month for prostitution.
Does this mean the cops aren’t entirely confident in their prostitution charges against her?
UPDATE: University Park Police Chief Gary Adams answers my question: “Not at all.”
East Dallas Cat Mailed to Chicagoland
The cat disappeared from the Chiro Design Group and ended up in a Chicago suburb. Poor guy opens his box of supplies, sees tufts of fur and some creature inside:
“My first reaction was, I didn’t know what kind of animal he was, so I closed the box back up,” said Brett St. Aubin, clinic director at Chiro One Wellness Center of Woodstock.
Texas Senators Want Sarah Saldana as U.S. Attorney
As an assistant U.S. Attorney, she played a major role in the prosecution of Don Hill, et al. After a bipartisan commission studied the possible candidates, senators John Cornyn and Kay Hutchison selected her from the list (by tradition, senators approve U.S. attorneys for their states). But there’s a hitch. Oddly, it’s from Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett of Austin, who seems to think that if there’s a Democratic White House, Democrats like him ought to have the prerogative of making recommendations, not the state’s two senators, who happen to be Republicans. What makes that odd is that Saldana is a Democrat, and, judging by the verdict in the Hill case, an able and effective one at that. I’ve known Doggett since he was at UT, and this is the kind of game he loves. Fortunately for Saldana, I can also report that, like Tim with golf, as much as Doggett loves the game, he is not often very good at it.
(I tried to get the inside scoop on this dogfight from a really, really, really good source, but he wisely has neglected to return my phone calls — as I would ,too, if my wife’s appointmet was the bone over which the dogs were fighting.)
Dallas Morning News Launches Electronic Edition
An alert FBvian points us to news that the DMN has launched an e-edition. “What?” you ask? “Hasn’t the paper been online for years?” Yes, but this version offers 3-D page turning! It’s free for subscribers and $12.95 per month for non-subscribers. I’m a subscriber, but the system doesn’t recognize me, so I can’t check it out. But if I weren’t a subscriber, I couldn’t imagine paying $12.95 per month just to get some fancy page-turning effect. [scratching head]
Nightline Explodes the Willingham Case
Cameron Todd Willingham was convicted of deliberately burning down his house in order to murder his three children, and he was executed for the crime. We have asked why Gov. Rick Perry is so afraid of questions that have been raised about this case. As this Nightline report makes clear, the answer is that the fire was an accident, not arson at all, which means Texas executed a man for a crime that was not committed. Worse than that, the proof of this was presented to the governor before the execution took place, and he ignored it.
Where in the World Is Barrett Wissman?
Barrett Wissman, you’ll recall, is the former hedge fund manager and partner of Clark Hunt’s who has plead guilty to felony securities fraud. He owes the feds $12 million in fines, and he’s supposedly helping the government figure out the dirty business surrounding state pension funds and how they invest their billions. Well, the feds aren’t the only ones who want a piece of Wissman. A woman named Hilary Kramer has filed suit in New York against him and Hunt, claiming that they destroyed her Greentech hedge fund. Problem is, Kramer’s lawyer says he can’t find Wissman.
Yesterday, Howard Sirota sent a note to me and other journalists who have written about Wissman, saying that Sirota’s process servers can’t find Wissman in New York or Dallas. How can that be? It wasn’t that long ago that Wissman’s lawyer, Bill Brewer, told the WSJ that his client, when he isn’t working with investigators, is basically just spending quality time with his family in Dallas, playing the piano, and keeping in shape. So Wissman ought to be easy to find. Right?
I’ll leave comments on, just in case anyone has a Wissman sighting to report.
Leading Off (10/09/09): Moving Day Edition
Today D Magazine will officially vacate the building that it has called home for nearly the entirety of the Aughts. Most of us have already emptied out our desks. We’ll be “working from home” while a moving crew and our soon-to-be-suffering IT department get our new downtown office set up. We’d like your business to be as unproductive as ours while that happens.
1. The Oak Lawn Avenue building we’re leaving is Hampton Court. That name is shared by a 16th-century English palace originally built for Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, a key adviser of King Henry VIII. The king later took possession of Hampton Court himself and expanded it. Excuse enough for us to do a little jousting.
2. For the last three years, I have had a dream of a commute to work. I live close enough to our office that I walk nearly every day. But come Monday, I’m back to relying on an automobile. Strangely, because I am opting for a less-expensive parking option downtown, I’ll actually have to walk a greater distance from the parking garage to our downtown office than I currently walk from my home to our Oak Lawn building. And so a little practice walking under difficult circumstances could still be helpful.
3. We’re relocating to St. Paul Street, in a building called St. Paul Place. To help familiarize you with the D Empire’s new patron saint, see if you can avoid being martyred. You may need to brush up on your Baltimore Catechism, or maybe just Wikipedia.
Farewell to Al’s
Today is the last day in our old office, across the street from Al Biernat’s, one of our favorite eateries and drinkeries for the past decade or so. And it STILL will be a favorite, of course. But you know how it goes. You move. You promise to stay in touch. And then, well, things change. Life gets in the way.
So we are here, not saying goodbye, no. Saying until next time. (As for why Eric has sprouted wings, I can offer no explanation.)
Fr. Andrew O’Connor Brings His Clothing Line to Stanley Korshak
So a priest walks into a clothier … . Does that sound like the beginning of joke? Do we need a rabbi and a nun to flesh it out maybe? Anyway, you’re a fashionista, so surely you’ve heard of Goods of Conscience, the clothing line designed by a priest named Fr. Andrew O’Connor (who lived here for a time while studying at the University of Dallas, by the way). Well, Fr. O’Connor and his clothes are at Stanley Korshak right now. He’ll be there again tomorrow. God says you should drop in and check it out. (Renegade Bus offers more details on the man.)
Dallas Man Flies to Tokyo With Loaded Gun
An alert FBvian points us to the news that a guy in Dallas got on a plane at DFW and flew to Tokyo with a loaded gun. Apparently he forgot he had the gun on him. I know what everyone is thinking: Trey Garrison?
Home |
Masthead |
News from D |
About Us |
Contact Us |
Subscribe |
Advertise |
Privacy Policy |
Customer Service |
Awards | Archives | Reprints | d custom | Jobs | Advertiser's Index
Awards | Archives | Reprints | d custom | Jobs | Advertiser's Index